Congratulations, you got the job interview! Now it is time to prepare to “wow” the interviewer with your amazing skills and experience. Standing out from a crowded pack of applicants can be difficult, but there are ways to show potential employers that you’re a qualified candidate. The STARR method of interviewing can be an important tool to help you tell impactful and memorable stories as you answer behavioral interview questions.
What is STARR?
STARR is a technique that helps you answer interview questions using specific and concrete examples of your skills. It helps you tell a cohesive, purposeful story that has purpose, flow, and intentionality. Using this method helps you effectively tackle behavioral interview questions in a few easy steps.
STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action, Result and Reflection. The STARR method gives you a chance to paint a picture for the employer. By telling them a specific story to answer their question, you’re engaging them on a deeper level. They can picture you doing specific tasks. This helps them understand you better, and will even help them remember you after the interview.
When to Use STARR
The STAR method works best with behavioral questions. Behavioral interview questions usually start with phrases like:
- Tell me about a time when…
- What do you do when…
- Have you ever…
- Give me an example of…
- Describe a situation in which…
If you hear one of these (or something similar) at the start of a question, you’re hearing a behavioral question, and it’s time to put the STARR interview method to work.
How to Use STARR
The STARR method does more than help you describe your skills to the interviewer. Using the STARR method helps give the interviewer insight into how you have used your skills to achieve the desired result and how you might work in their team.
For example, if your answer to a question is, “I fixed two bugs,” that’s great, but it doesn’t mean much. You need to explain how you fixed the bugs and what that meant for the company. Doing this gives the interviewer more information about you, your skills, and how you approach and solve problems. It helps them picture what you’d be like on their team – and start envisioning you in the role!
Situation
Start with the situation. Explain what was going on and, perhaps, why you were in the situation. It could be a situation at work, volunteering, and internship, a personal project, or even in a group project for a class.
Some examples:
This was during my internship at BeyondScope, where I was learning more about non-profit financial assistance. I was in a team with two other interns and our mentor.
During my previous job at LatteApp, I was assigned to build out three features for customers to order and customize their coffee on both the iOS and Android mobile apps.
Task
Describe your specific tasks. Explain what you were responsible for, or explain what the goal was.
Some examples:
The job of the team was to take about 200 files worth of financial information and come up with a financial strategy for the client that would help them build up their non-grant funded accounts, and we only had a couple days to do this.
One of the features I needed to build was a notification pop-up for our client’s customers that told them how far away their order was.
Action
Talk about what you did to achieve the goal. What actions did you take? However, describing your actions isn’t as simple as, “I worked hard.” Be specific about what you did.You’re giving the interviewer specific, concrete examples of the actions you took that helped achieve your goal.
An example:
To start out, because this was new to me, I did research on these technologies for about 4 hours. I love learning new things so this part was very exciting. After comparing the two different options, I decided that (option A) was better because (….). Then, I built out the three customer features using (option A) and even was able to use what I learned in my research to enhance (….).
If you’re describing a group situation, explain how your individual contributions helped the group achieve its goal without taking credit for everything. This can be tricky. But, if you remember that you’re describing how your contributions helped support other members and ultimately allowed the group to achieve its goals, you’ll demonstrate that you’re a team player.
Another example:
I created a chart with specific due dates for every team member. Then, when I saw one teammate was behind, I helped him brainstorm ways to complete his task without sacrificing quality.
Result
What were the results of your actions? Again, it’s not the simple answer of, “I raised revenue.” Go in-depth about the results, how they impacted the company, and what you learned from the entire process.
Some examples:
We ended up, as a team, presenting two separate financial scenarios to the client, so they could compare different models and goals. They were stunned and, after adopting one of our options, sent three other clients our way!
Once I finished creating all three features and submitted them to the QA team, I was so proud of myself. I’d never used that technology before, and the best part was, QA found ZERO bugs!
This app was downloaded by 20K users in 3 months and our clients were so happy they asked me to do another project.
Reflection
This is the big finale – what did you learn, or what did you realize? This shows continuous growth and that you strive to always learn and will take this experience and be a better professional because of it. When thinking of what to include for a reflection, think, “can I show how I changed something about myself in the future?” “Did I learn more about a technology or about myself?” Reflection is a bonus that will impress your interviewers and that many candidates will not include.
Some examples:
This was the first time I had ever researched two different technologies to find the better one, and I realized that researching and making sense of a lot of information was one thing I was great at – I have been the researcher on my teams ever since.
One thing I learned was that open communication, even if it seems hard at the time, will always benefit a team.
I realized that sometimes managers have lots of things to balance, and even if a tech seems a better choice, there are other considerations. I’ve remembered this as I’ve become a team lead.
Putting it All Together
Here is an example of a full STARR story:
One of my best learning situations was during my role as a mobile app developer with my first company. We were a team of 4, and we were asked to create an app that matched homeless cats to possible adoptive families, for a local client. I asked to be in charge of deciding which technologies to use. First, I did research to learn the pros and cons of different tech options. I chose Flutter because we wanted to build this for both iOS and Android. One teammate thought that we should just focus on Android because we had a tight timeline. I was able to fully explain why Flutter was the best choice and that we could finish in time because of research I’d done. My teammate trusted me, and we worked hard and got both apps done before the client’s deadline. We were even able to deploy them on iOS and Android stores and guess what – the Apple Store had 350 downloads within a week! And, a local shelter said 5 people came in because of our app to adopt a cat. Besides learning about Flutter, I also learned that it is important to have research about options and be able to articulate the pros and cons. That is why my teammate trusted me.
Tips to Make your STARR Answer Shine
Timing – your answer should be between about 1 – 4 minutes, start to finish.
Practice – practice using the STARR method to answer common behavioral interview questions.
Keep it Positive – make sure you don’t take a question that could set you up for a wonderful, positive story and outcome and go negative with it. For example, if you’re asked, “tell us about a time when you worked in a team,” and your STARR answer focuses on teammate disagreements, you are not taking advantage of showing off your wonderful team skills and you’re creating the impression that you are negative.
Don’t Be Too Humble – often people say they feel like they are bragging when they talk about the amazing actions they took and the incredible result. If you tell a full STARR story, and practice it, you will almost certainly not come off as bragging. Instead, you’ll showcase your skills and they will be believable because of the actions and result you include.
Be a STARR!
Now it’s time to come up with some STARR stories from your experience and practice them! Good luck!
